Daily Madden: The Excuse The Giants Didn’t Need

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 21: Adam Kennedy #3 of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws to first base as Pablo Sandoval #48 of the San Francisco Giants is forced out at second base for the second out in the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium on August 21, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Golden/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – “When you get an excuse to lose, you don’t take it.”

That was John Madden’s reaction to the Giants three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers following the suspension of their star outfielder for use of performance enhancing drugs.

“They lose Melky Cabrera (for) fifty games,” Madden told the KCBS morning crew. “He’s MVP of the All-Star game, he’s doing all this stuff. (People say) ‘well, that’s the end of the Giants, they just blew it, you know they’re done.’ And instead of taking that and saying ‘oh woe is us,’ they take it the other way, go down and sweep the Dodgers. That’s pretty dog-gone impressive, it really is.”

The Green Bay Packers are among the teams building a corps of mid-sized players who can play different positions.

“That’s the direction pro football is going,” Madden said. “They’re making a hybrid out of three positions that have kind of been phased out of pro football – the fullback, the blocking tight end and the strong side (line)backer.”

Madden said the teams’ salary structure is part of it.

“You have just so much money you can spend… If you have a lot of high (salary) guys, to balance out your team you have to have a lot of low guys… who can do a lot of things.” (8:45)

Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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John Madden

John Madden began his pro football coaching career in 1967 as the Oakland Raiders' linebackers coach. After two seasons, he was elevated to head coach. At 32 years of age when he was hired, he became the youngest head coach in the American Footba...